June 24, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



849 



cies. It consists of an old and a young bull, 

 an old and a young cow and two young of 

 different ages. The most striking accessory 

 is an ant hill upon which is perched an 

 African owl. The representatives of the 

 scant plant life are faithfully executed, and, 

 although the area is limited, the impres- 

 sions of the desert are forcibly conveyed to 

 the spectator. 



The same is true of the second group, 

 consisting of two males, two cows and two 

 young. With its long neck, large eyes and 

 slender body, this gazelle, the cerenuk of the 

 natives, is graceful in form, if not in move- 

 ment. 



A third group, now almost readj', will 

 represent the Oryx antelope ( Oryx heisa) 

 and consist of a family of iive. This 

 species will be in marked contrast to the 

 others, on account of its rather clumsy 

 form, that is offset, however, by its remark- 

 ably long, straight, dangerous horns, carried 

 by both sexes. The center will be occupied 

 by another of those ant hills which consti- 

 tute so conspicuous a feature of the land- 

 scape in many parts of Africa. It is 

 generally built around a tree, completely 

 enclosing the trunk and nearly all the 

 branches. After the ants have eaten the 

 tree the hill is abandoned to be blown down 

 by the winds. Some of them reach a 

 height of forty feet. Together with the 

 imposing musk-ox group, the two already 

 finished have been attracting an ever in- 

 creasing attention from visitors, who are 

 outspoken in their admiration of the artistic 

 skill displayed by the taxidermist, even if 

 they fail to appreciate their scientific value. 



The ultimate idea is to give most of this 

 wing up to African collections, some sixteen 

 groups in all having been planned, headed 

 by a family group of polar bears, towards 

 the center and rounded up in the rear by 

 the musk-ox group, now in front. The 

 final value of these and other groups as a 

 means of creating interest in scientific re- 



search in this busy metropolis of the West 

 can hardly be overrated. 



The Anthropological Department has 

 undergone thorough rearrangements of late, 

 the idea being to give more prominence to 

 the geographical distribution of the human 

 races. Dr. Dorsey, the acting Curator, in 

 December last, undertook a second trip to 

 the Pueblo of Oraibi, accompanied by the 

 sculptor Mr. F. B. Melville, for the purpose 

 of securing plaster casts from life of Moki 

 Indians, as well as completing the ethno- 

 logical collections secured on a former trip. 



The first results of this very successful 

 expedition will soon be accessible to the 

 public in the shape of two groups represent- 

 ing a Moki maiden grinding corn and a 

 woman baking 'piki,' or paper bread. 

 These are both to be shown in the interior 

 of a Moki house, every surrounding detail 

 of which will be as genuine in the repro- 

 duction as in the original. Material is on 

 hand for another group representing a wo- 

 man making pottery and a child reposing 

 in a cradle board ; for two weavers at work 

 in their ' kivi,' or underground apartment, 

 and for a splendid boomerang thrower. 

 The most picturesque group, however, will 

 probably be a Moki bride arrayed in all the 

 splendor, of her marriage finery ; as also two 

 representations of the ' katcina,' or masked 

 dancers. 



Ultimately the still more difficult task of 

 giving some representation of the famous 

 snake dance may be undertaken, but not 

 until another visit to Oraibi shall have been 

 made. On the whole, it can be confidently 

 predicted that the Moki hall in the Field 

 Columbian Museum, when completed, will 

 bid fair to be unique in its kind, and will 

 certainly prove a formidable rival in popu- 

 lar interest to the animal groups in the Zo- 

 ological Department and the monographic 

 representations of the forest trees of North 

 America, fairly started in the Botanical 

 Department. 



